Saturday, November 7, 2009

Well what a day yesterday was, fast sell outs, fake URL's, and another great poster.

First off we have a couple of reports from the reveal from the people that went down to Super7 in San Francisco.

Jo who has her own Lost blog at - jopinionated.blogspot.com went down and reported back, read the details below for a chance to win a T-shirt from the reveal.

"About 20 Bay Area LOST fans braved the drizzling rain to stand in line at the Super7 Store in San Francisco earlier today for the next URL reveal.

Everyone was very friendly and the anticipation was palpable. Once they opened the door at noon, we politely filed in and each picked up custom LOST gelaskins for both a 15.4" laptop and iPod Touch.

The staff at Super7 are huge LOST fans, and seemed to really enjoy the event; they gave us a little gift bag with a Super7 sticker, small notebook and very cool toy inside. After I gave them my card & custom LOST pin, they gave me a very cool tee from a Japanese artist (Gargamel) because it has the letters ARG in it (see photo).

They certainly have a sense of humor, and appreciate the effort and lengths that fans are going to in order to acquire posters and other swag. I would like to give the tee away to someone who wasn't able to join us today, so those who are interested - simply let me know via Twitter (@jopinionated).

It was great to meet all of the dedicated fans in line, and experience part of this off-season LOST adventure. Thank you all for the comments, and for following along here and on Twitter! - Jo"

Take care, and thanks to Zort70, Lottery Ticket and everyone from the LostARGS site!

Next we have Justin -

I made it to Super 7 to have a good time chatting with the clerks and fellow LOST fans (some of whom drove an hour...). Refreshed the URL a zillion times. Went through the process of logging in (I had previously bought Love Triangle). My fatal mistake, I guess, was one mis-entered password. I got all the way to the final purchase button and then blammo! 404 error. Aaaargh!!

Anyway, at least I didn't leave empty-handed... The iPhone skin is cool, the MacBook skin is going up on my wall, and (aside from the nifty swag bag they gave out, with a little notebook and a "Ghost Land" "Blowfish" figurine in a metal box), I spent the $50 I would have spent on the poster on two excellent shirts from Super7. And, perhaps most uniquely, I got a LOST fan button from jopinionated! Thanks for bringing those!

Definitely worth the trip across the Bay.

Upon further reflection: Who knew it was going to take half an hour, and then sell out in, yes, it had to be less than a minute? It was insane; I thought I had a chance, but no.

Of course, I figured in advance that being at the reveal meant giving up a little bit of likelihood of getting a poster. Mainly because I was on my iPhone on 3G, not wireless, which slowed me down a little bit. And, as I mentioned, the password flub. I might have gotten in right before the 404, had I gotten it right the first time.

But (again) it was well worth it, because instead of just not having a poster, I don't have a poster but I have all that other cool stuff and a good experience.

The store staff members were really nice; they personally understood the fanboy/fangirl phenomenon, being fanboys themselves. I did mention to them that I thought it was sort of unfair that TPTB don't open the site up to purchase at the exact moment of the URL reveal (and they actually said they could pass that feedback on to TPTB).

I'll keep trying with little hope of getting one... and in any case it's a decent way to pass the time before LOST comes back...!

-----------------------------

Then finally lets leave the final word to Daniel Danger who popped into the comments last night -

Man, this poster reveal was a drag. With the web site taking 30 seconds to refresh and crashing at literally every step of checkout, I feel like the winners from now on will just be whoever has the best technology. Some sort of lottery system would be better, I think.

Woken up with the thought still in my head "I can't believe they thought it was real".I feel really bad for Rev and Thorsten for all the trouble that they got into, but surely people know what screen printing is… All the things that the previous posters have in common is the restricted colour palettes. Print one black blue red. Print two green grey. Print three blue white pink grey. Print four blue blue red. I could go on.Whilst all these talented artists are restricted/blessed by the printing process they are all creating fantastic art. What Rev and Thorsten did was take a photo and run a filter on it. It's still a photo and totally out of sync with the rest of the series. It was a really good, but very obvious hoax. They shouldn't be made to suffer for other people's mistakes. I've not been fortunate enough to see one of these prints in person yet, but surely people can tell the difference? The people over at eb should be even more embarrassed as they're supposed to be art people!I really hope that they didn't withdraw rev's purchase because of this whole affair.

Please don't lynch me, this just bothers me.

On a different note, I've been thinking about the "15 will be lost the 16th will be found" thing. Does anybody else think that they may open up the floodgates to fan art for the final poster? As this whole thing was originally intended to be about giving something back to the fans, it's be cool if we could express our appreciation in art form. Surely the artist only matters to the people at eb, me for one would love to see a legitimate Thorsten print for sale!

Zort & Thorsten - I know what you mean. I left the comments open after the reveal today, and refreshed... and about had a heart attack! It took me 2 hours, reading at a decent clip, to get caught up. LOL!

I hope this whole RevMilo brouhaha blows over soon. An apology was extended... how about we extend the olive branch in return?

On an unrelated note... my wife told me last night that, Unbeknownst to me, she had tried for the very 1st time to buy a poster yesterday. She said she's seen how much I've been stressing over the last few reveals... and she wanted to get one, just in case I wasn't successful. It's enough to warm the heart of even a non-Lost fan. My wife is pretty awesome... and it doesn't hurt of course that she is every bit the Lost fan that I am... :-)

Sorry... no, she wasn't able to even get in. She saw the "buy now" button, but had it crash on her when she clicked. But she did say she understands now why I've been so freaked out after my purchases, and said she was on a total adrenaline rush... I told her "welcome to the club!" LOL!

I for one would like to tell revmilo that I got a real kick out of the fake site! I was a little flummoxed at the time, but looking back on it I now find it pretty funny. The URL was dropped into chat at just the right time, and the layout was just right...there were a few giveaways that it wasn't real, though, for example the subdirectory was /dcpb/X-I even though this is frame 12 (not 11) and dcaapb switched to a different URL format last reveal anyway. But it was a cute plot, and well-executed.

@ReverendMilo, I would not like to have your bandwidth bills right now! That server must have gotten clobbered. But now I'm curious: you may have the only reliable estimate (apart from DCaaPB of course) of how many people were camping the reveal, if we assume a 40-50% fraction who fell for the fake site. Would you mind sharing some numbers?

I liked the fake web, gave me valuable time to buy this poster so cheers rev milo. Wouldn't be too down over this, consensus here seems to be no one is that bothered and forgives you for it. Everyone just needs to remember this is a game and in all games, some people lose. I fell for it but remembered it wasn't on the list of sites.

Anyway, my order for Jacobs cabin or the reason my hand is shaking... Has been put as shipped which is awesome and quite peculiar.

Also, i'm sure you can set up an account from the login page where we sign in to check orders, right?Right, back to work for me.

the fake URL was lame... no offense but you should have been able to forsee it being used to throw people off. I would be livid if I was stuck on that page F5ing while the real poster had already sold out.

..I never went to the fake url. I wait until its clear that the site revealed is authenticated. The LFA organization has never been so crude as to not give us enough time to go find and have a look.

That does not mean that I didn't have thoughts of being at a fake site while endlessly refreshing to the Buy Now moment. When the Soon was still there past the 20 minute after the hour mark..yes,, I had thoughts of ..what if I was at the wrong site..Thats when I began the deep breathing and clearing the mind exercises.

Fake URL was shameful. Sounds like a lot of fans had proxies buying for them and even some were distractedby it. The notion that a "true fan" wouldn't have fallen for it is bogus. Don't try to speak for us all when saying it's alright because it was Milo. I'm disappointed and know I speak for more than a few people.Moving on, will forgive and forget but I wanted to clear the air first.

Morning all...still a little sad that I couldn't get one. I saw that damn poster in my dreams last night, which actually made the dreams kinda creepy. Haha.

Let me say to RevMilo: I forgive you. Not sure what that is worth coming from someone you don't even know, but mistakes are made. However, I'd like to say I'm disappointed in you. Not mad. The website was a good ruse, but VERY poor timing. I know that you didn't leak the url into the forums, but you had to know that was going to happen. Why make the website at the time of a reveal? Why not just make it as a joke and post it on an "off" day? I immediately knew it was fake since thorsten had posted that pic the other day. But...why make the website yesterday of all days?

Sorry to all those who couldn't get a print...and I'm even more troubled to read Lottery's post about losties not getting most of the prints. Argh, oh well. At least DD is a cool guy.

I was watching the Twitter people. I also saw the fake url in comments here. Figured it was fake, but still wanted to see what it was. It was taking forever to load so I closed it. Saw the real url. Went there & f5'd forever, yada, yada, yada. Ya'll know the rest of the story.Rev has made a sincere apology IMHO. You only hurt yourself by not forgiving & holding onto your anger/resentment. Please, let's all forgive & move on. I think Rev has had his dose of karma for this silly mistake in judgement.

BTW, I might not have been able to get that awesome Daniel Danger print, but I did get an equally awesome Polar Beer T-shirt. I can't wait to get it! And looking on the bright side even further, I saved $50 bucks & still got some LOST memorabilia:)

I'm sorry, but those who thought that the fake was 'art' need to get their eyes tested. There was half an hour between the reveal and buy now. Plenty of people on the boards and chatrooms pointed out it was a fake for the visually impaired.

you guys need to chill a little, its not revs fault, was just a joke. Quit scolding the dude like your his mom. If you got one it was total luck of the draw... I was on a PC and my computer crashed hard, and this other guy at my work was on a slow laptop that happened to not crash, and he slowly typed out all his info and typed out his credit card and got one.

Anyone have a number higher than 2317? ANyone with a number lower than 2137? i think those are the highest and lowest, correct?

I think it took some guts to admit that you did it, that's why I hold no grudge against Milo. He is an active contributor to this site and seems like a good guy. I can't lie though, I am disappointed. It was poor judgment. A different day would have better, heck even a different time. But, you live and learn. Can't say I've never done something stupid before and regretted it. Milo, we forgive you.

I think people are being pretty kind to Milo in general instead of riding him out of town on a rail. Telling them to forgive ain't gonna cut it and might prolong their venting. Vent away, get it out of your system and THEN shut it. Anyway I was tired of focusing all my frustration on EB misfits and the devilspawn flippers!

Also, did anyone get a cancellation email? Looks like the overselling problem might have been taken care of. My buddy with 2314 has not gotten an email, and i think that was the 3rd to last poster (if 2317 is indeed the highest)... so if it was an oversell, i would expect him to get one.

I'm so happy to finally see some comments from people who feel as I do about the fake website: it was wrong and Milo's apology doesn't make it ok. It reminds me of people who say something nasty and hurtful to someone, but think it's acceptable because they follow up with a "Just kidding!".No, I didn't fall for the fake site because I was following Twitter, but I'm still angry over the whole thing. It's just another example of the current trend of people doing something wrong and then being forgiven just because they apologize. Even if Milo didn't set out to fool people (which I'm not entirely sure is true, given his deceptions in the chat room during the 11th poster reveal), he's a smart guy and should have known that in the heat of the moment of trying to get a poster, the fake URL would get out and, at the very least cause confusion, and at worst, prevent some people (even dedicated Losties) from getting a shot at a poster. I just hope that the person who offered to sell his poster to Milo because he and his brother were each able to get one withdraws his offer and offers it to someone more worthy.

I see what you mean Ginger. I think the people who were trying to convince the board members that the fake was real are the real villains of the piece. Maybe people were ruled by their hearts because so many of us want a Charlie print. But if you had the luxury of comparing the two, surely you'd know DD's one was real? Namaste back at ya!

...Take a step back??? how about believing everything you see on the web?? Take that bit of naivete' and step back.

And,, I don't believe Rev posted that link. Some one else did. So..lets stop that preying on the naive and spreading false info, rite now.

If you are not of the mind to conceive of the possibility then you haven't been along for the ride until recently. To not think of,, or not even be aware,of what has a history here..is the cost to believing you were getting into something for nothing. So much for your free ride.

This round of Frame has exposed the many faults of the Process. Its been a learning curve for each and every one of us including the LFA organization. None of this has been " free". So, like everyone else here, including myself, ,, take your lumps and bruises and find your own balm for soothing. This is VIRTUAL..How it becomes " real" to you, is of your own making,,not somebody else.

@AmyLynn...yea, I hear ya. Kinda like the guy on EB who said he got 4. They just say it to mess with you.

Look, I started it with my post so I hope to end it here...Milo is a very respected member of this community. He made a mistake, apologized, and looks ready to face any consequences that may come his way. He's earned my respect after losing for a very, very short time. I am disappointed with him, but people learn. And, I find it amusing that the only people who will say they are mad at him and are scolding him are all Anons. Show your face or get out, take some responsibility. It's OVER. Milo apologized.

In my house we just laughed at Milo's page... couldn't take it seriously as on a mac it was clear that the text was fake. There was a half hour till the buy anyway so it wasn't really a biggie for me. While we would have all preferred it hadn't appeared right at that moment I guess there was no harm done. Rather it came from a regular and a Lost fan than from someone being malicious for the hell of it.

Whatever - the genuine page went from oN Sale Soon to Sold Out in one refresh so the stunning DD didn't happen for me. Congrats to those that got it. Only one on ebay that I've seen today which is a good sign that those that really wanted it got it. I remember at least 4 or 5 of Walt's Kidnapping being up next day.

Just remember in years to come you can tell your grandchildren you were there when the fake URL was posted.

I don't mean to make light of it all but in the end we have to have a sense of humour about things.

Remember the only way to be 100% sure you are on the right site is to follow DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com.

LostARGs and other sites are fan sites that have no official connection to ABC, DCaaPB, GoMerch or any other connected party. We are reposting information (and wild speculation sometimes) and we only operate because the powers that be let us. Of course on the flip side it doesn't hurt them because we are free advertising for the whole thing.

We try our best to make things fair for all, and we did say the URL was fake well before the poster went on sale.

Anon..ur ability to not comprehend and then, put words in my mouth, is astounding. You are an instigator with non understanding as your main weapon. I've met your type everywhere, so it should be of no surprise that i say to you, this is the last i have anything to say to you.

Question here: Where was the faux-link posted? In the chat room? I monitored the chat room for poster #11 and it just slowed down my computer. So I ignored the chat room this time, and managed to get through the ordering process, and then, like many others, everything froze and I didn't get a poster. My major beef is with the fact that the process allows us to enter credit card numbers and then doesn't process them. That seems wrong, wrong, wrong to me.

I agree with Zort. The fake URL faux pas has added some additonal fun and excitement to the game. I do feel bad, however, for the people who fell for it. Follow twitter (people actually at the reveal location) to be sure to get the correct URL.

Chris I don't understand it either. It's the classic US vs THEM thing. Pink Floyd wrote a song about it & I think there's a class in the up coming Lost University about it as well. It's very LOST. Ironic, no?

And by the way, that four poster deal with the buy it now price of $2000 on ebay is mine. And I feel fine about that since this is after all America. I may not have gotten yesteradays print had it not been for Milos fake link, so for that I thank him. Anyone with a problem about this knows where to find me on spoiler tv.

I haven't read everything that goes on over at EB, but think of the most antagonistic posts we have shared over here (thnkfully very few) and treble them in strength and numbers and you might get an idea of what is going on.

It is a clash of the art world and the fan world. I don't see any reason why the two have to be at odds with each other, it just means a small pie gets a lot smaller with each group of people that join the quest.

The main issue, as always seems to be the case is with the flippers, there are a lot of people over there claiming to be flippers and boasting about how many posters they bought and how much they are going to make from selling them.

I would take a lot of the comments with a pinch of salt, and remind everyone here that this site was set up to discuss Lost and the ARG / marketing not the morality of a few profiteers.

Anyway on with normallity, get well soon to all those with colds, my mother has just let me know she has the h5n1 version of the flu.

@Ginger - Just seems a little unnecessary to me. I don't get who the US and THEM are. I used to have the best fun enjoying LOST talk with my offline friends until this ARG which has been responsible for bringing me into the online community a little so I'm pretty fresh to most boards. This seems to be the only one where everyone is relaxed and just enjoying it all. Some of the stuff that goes on on a couple of others seems a little, well... aggressive...

This US/THEM thing is interesting. Think about it...a certain group of people, let's call them "The Others" have existed in this art buying world for years, perhaps decades. Suddenly a bunch of new people crash into the scene, wandering around and stepping all over the place. The Others become resentful, send someone over to investigate and report back, and then begin to mock the new people, let's call them the Losties. Meanwhile, certain Losties are in conflict with one another, one doesn't prefer the methods of another, thinks that the reveals should go in a different direction, and there ends up being a lot of infighting, all while the Others sit back and watch the chaos.

Now, if only we could get a good looking blonde to come over from their side and help us take them down ;)

Wow, I've never seen so many emotions and raw nerves on display at LostArgs! I was following Twitter and the comments here on my slow iPhone and saw the fake URL and immediately realized it was fake. If it was intended in fun, so be it...but it appearing at the time when people were frantic about the newest reveal was in very poor taste. It was noted above that it would have been very funny if released on an off-clue day...something to pass the time. Hopefully, we can accept the apologies and move on.

Half the fun of this poster reveal is just taking part in it. The bonus is getting a poster...but, as it's been pointed out many times....there is just no way that 200 posters are able to cover all the LOST fans out there. Some of us get to go to reveals and get swag, some get posters. But the lead up to the reveal and the anticipation is the most fun for me. Of course, meeting all the new fellow fans here on LostArgs is another plus! Huge kudos to Zort for managing our blog, to Lottery Ticket for maintaining the Twitter list and Poster List, and to those lucky enough to go to the reveal site and keep us all informed!

That being said, I'd like to briefly repost something I said last night:

something that has kept me looking on the bright side of all this - I have a number of friends who are BIG TIME Disney fanatics, and I think this ARG thing is so much more fun than what Disney usually does with their Merchandise Events.

For those that don't know, a Merchandise Event is a special event attendees have to pay to get into so that they have the opportunity to purchase special edition items.

And while it perhaps would have been easier for some to get the complete set that way, this way is much more fun for everyone.

I agree Jeremy, my son and I were talking about this at too great a length for the rest of the family this morning! We've been fans of lots of stuff, Twin Peaks for instance had some amazing and groundbreaking marketing surrounding it but we had to agree that Darlton/LOST/ABC/Disney have done such an incredible job in keeping us all entertained throughout pretty much every week since Season One. Some very talented and very bright people.

Zort, you said - "there are a lot of people over there (EB) claiming to be flippers and boasting about how many posters they bought and how much they are going to make from selling them."

I would just like to point out that there are 20,000 memebers of the ExpressoBeans community. Of that there are maybe 10-15 folks that are being ridiculous with their taunts of the Lost fans? While 10-15 may be spewing a lot of hate towards you, that's not a large portion of the community. It's probably the same number of Lost folks that have come over there and acted ridiculous towards us, and it's from a much smaller base.

Please folks, stop painting the entire expressobeans art crowd in such a negative light. Some folks are Art Fans AND Lost fans, the two are not mutually exclusive. And many of the folks over there are great souls constantly helping each other out with their collections.

Remember it wasn't the EB folks that created the false URL, it was ONE OF YOUR OWN. How would you have reacted if it was indeed a EB community member?

This whole ARG has been a boon for me. I've not been into the print collecting scene and this has really generated my interest. Since this all started I've bought a bunch of very reasonably priced pieces by a few different artists and have 10 or so on the way from the States now for myself or for gifts. I didn't manage to get the Dan McCarthy but I have bought 2 of his other prints which are stunning. Sure I want all of this series because they are connected with my fave TV show but some of the stuff I've discovered on www.omgposters.com is simply awesome. I'm grateful to dcaapb for opening this world up to me.

I guess the only thing that bothers me is that so many of the artists with later prints in this game have been giving their fans advance notice of when their print was going to drop. There is already talk that next week's artist (who I won't name) did so for his/her fans.

Zort..By all means,,leave it standing. Its a good example of the mentality I speak of.

Yes.. I have been some what surprised that I have gotten away with the Anon for as long as I have. I guess..like a thermometer..what it brings indicates the changes in temperament of a population. . So, yes,,this post is your advise made real.

@ellen - yes I did get a poster yesterday. Order #2207 so I wasn't even close to the first orderer. I have a fast connection at work. That and practice are my secrets. 'Course since Love Triangle sold out, there is no more practicing.

amy the artists DONT know when their print is dropping. well todd slater and jay ryan must know at this point their prints will drop in the next four weeks. but NO ARTIST has sent out emails telling their fans that their poster is up next.

as far as i know the artists are as surprised as the rest of us when their poster goes on sale.

@timarmstrong... maybe I'm wrong, but for the last three or four posters (since McCarthy), either EB or the other art forums have known exactly whose print was going to drop, and they were right each time.

Comixguru - Thanks for your reply! Can we use this as an opportunity to move on? What's done is done and don't forget what brought most of us here, an amazing tv show. There's four prints to go! I don't think it's going to get any busier than yesterday, so at least we know what we're up against!

A fan generated piece would be great I think, there's loads of great stuff on the web, and I'm sure we'll get plenty of submissions. If it is that, then maybe we'll get from the end of the month till the start of the new season to design something.Probably totally wrong, but it's a nice idea that maybe we could organise as a community some time in the future…

there was at least a 20 minute difference after that fake URl was posted and the real one went on sale... Why is everyone so caught up on this? People can post fake URLs every week if they want, it cant be stopped, so just live with it. And again, this poster was luck of the draw... I said it earlier... My computer crashed yesterday while a guy at my work who has never even been on the site got on and purchased the 3rd to last poster and it took at LEAST 1 solid minute. It was just all luck, life goes on.

Wow -- tensions seem to be at an all time high! Reflective of the ever growing disparity in supply/demand that has become inevitable as we come to the last few print reveals.

The Rev has apologized for what was seemingly a joke that took on a life of it's own. A long as there was no intent to truly obfuscate, it was just a mistimed misstep. Except maybe by the person that posted the URL in the chatroom. The speed at which the fake URL spread is evidence though of just how many get the URL from this chat.

It's surprising that so many "new" names were able to get in on this print, but that may be good -- trying to see it as hopefully more LOSTfans getting an actual print.

Thanks as always to Zort, LT and congested -- for this site, the chat, THE LIST and the twitterfeed. Thanks Jeremy, Jo and Claire for attending the onsite reveal.

Of course I am disappointed missing out on this amazing print, more so at the 404 error.

But that is over, done. The community that this ARG has brought together is the true prize, the prints are a bonus. I am looking forward to Frame 13 and holding on to a little hope that the Frame 16 reveal may be a true hunt!

So it was Rev who did the fake URL? Wow, I tip my hat to him. I kinda feel bad that people are giving him sucha hard time. Here's how I see this whole situtation: So this ARG site is getting more and more popular with each poster reveal. It started off as just true LOST fans sharing info on how to get the next one, right? Well now that it's been discovered (i almost wanna say infiltrated) by people like ebay flippers, I feel that he made the clever attempt to give them the slip and point them in the wrong direction, giving us true lost fans a better chance at getting what we really want - a poster for ourselves. Unfortunately I was one of the many fans yesterday that got the "Page not found" while in the middle of checkout because of the slow bandwidth, and I was really upset cuz this was one that i really wanted. Anyway, what im saying is it's kinda like, if imagine a group of dedicated students in a class that get straight A's, and then the slackers that just wanna pass realize how good we're doing so they copy our answers (or in this case, copying our answers to clues). Would it be so wrong if one of us decided to give them the wrong answers on purpose? If anything, we should thank him, but request he fill us in next time.

I would like to only say today that the load time of that fake site totally hosed up my dinosaur computer for the sale, by pointing me in the wrong direction by the "wrong answer". And I couldn't tell that it wasn't a real piece of artwork because it was loading so slowly, and I could hardly see any of it for a while. By the time it was partly revealed, I saw that it was Thorsten's work, and new that it was fake, but by then it was very difficult to get my computer out of the ridiculous loading loop to stop loading, and be able to go back to finding the real site.

So please don't call people stupid just because they couldn't tell that it was a fake site right away, consider that perhaps there were extenuating circumstances that made it difficult to recognize. Tx. :-\

Tim. I for one feel quite pleased to have been introduced to your 'little world'. I don't really plan on leaving it when this is over. There's too much amazing art out there that i've just been introduced to.

Capcom, from a computer tech standpoint I am not sure if your anger is misplaced. The fake URL was obviously hosted on an inferior server not meant to handle hundreds of requests. The fake URL not being able to resolve has no bearing on being able to stop the request or go to a different URL. The real site was having a problem under the huge load, and that or possibly problems with your machine or browser itself could be where you need to look.

I don't have an opinion on the whole fake URL thing, just read your post and it sounded like a technical issue to me

I am part of this site... but do you know me? No. I don't have to register, i could be a eb snob...

But if the lost world would tighten up, and not reveal the urls to outsiders for the last 4 prints.... we'd have a chance. At least would make the flippers and hoarders fight harder.... if we make them miss it by...10-20sec.... we win.

This is the lowest amount of losties yet getting lost prints. You feed them your information and then complain about it. Hey midday... did ya give the url to your buddy jojo.... i hope him and his 4 prints go MIA....

SO... i am glad this chat was not around that day... i'm glad. The 2% of prints losties got... probably helped... but noone sees that part huh?

SO... i can't contribute here anymore... because i know that anyone and everyone can see in... and take.

i am taking steps to win in the last 4 prints.... i would hope you all would too....

Rev, well played my friend, well played. Although you didn't directly give the url.... it's distraction is most likely why i got a print... so for that thank you.

So many... should thank you. How many more prints will this forum lose to our enemies.....

Capcom, I empathize. I don't have a dinosaur of a computer and the *fake* seemed to slow my refreshes as well. But I think that really only reflects the traffic on the actual Frame 12/GoMerch site.

Obfuscate is a screen name I have used since the XFiles days. Some definitions:-To make obscure or unclear-To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand-To deliberately make more confusing in order to conceal the truth

As I would hope Tim and I'm pleased to hear that. I'd never have got to this point though without a ton of great people here making it fun and helping guide that discovery through a common interest in a great TV show.

The two worlds colliding has worked out well for me. Not for my wallet but hey...

Well, I have to say that the whole fake URL trick has finally proven that DCaaPB has turned from a celebration uniting Lost fans into a cutthroat competition turning Lost fans against each other. I feel bad for those left refreshing the hoax (many of them well-meaning friends and family members trying to help a loved one) while the "elite" with advance knowledge of the URLs--or enough artistic taste to know better--enjoyed taking advantage of the diversion at the expense of others. Say what you will about the intentions--the result was (in my opinion) the low point of this experience so far and proof that the Lost community has reached the "every man for himself" stage. Or should it be, "Live together or order alone."

Do.. use your eb names you eb'ers.... Jim? or BathroommonkeY?? Tim.. you from eb? I know midday and congested troll both forums...

Sad that the true lost fans who want to partake in lost stuff can't just for the sake of the game and reveals NOT post our info there....

But that would show loyalty. And who needs that when you can post...

Anonymously.....

to whomever said... they agreed with milo... but just let us know... this site is so many good people... and bad. And there is nothing set in place to differentiate. I used to go to the dark site. They all left.... and from what it seems... they run a tight ship. But, i bet they didn't get infiltrators,and they don't feed the eb'ers.... ebayers.... flippers..... they seem pretty loyal to lost fans.

Not humanity... cause you can become a humanitarian after the game.... they focus on lost fans. And if it weren't that i like to remain anon... maybe i'd go there to....

OK, so I'll say two things today. Anonymous, I don't feel any anger about it and purposely tried not to display any in my post, via leaving out things like exclamation points, etc. The problem is that my computer got hung up trying to load that site and couldn't go anywhere else, that's just what it does, irrespective of how well another site would have loaded had I been able to redirect to it, which I couldn't. Yes, it's my doofus computer's fault. But had I not gone there, it would not have happened, I'm just posting my experience with it. Who here really waits five minutes after the poster link is revealed in the chat or blog to check to make sure that it's not a fake? Not in the last reveals we're not going to do that.

I'd have to agree with DylansDad. Even without feeling anger, this last situation has been the event that killed my spirit for this poster thing. It's great that TPTB did this for us, but the laws of chaos say that anything can happen with it, good or bad, with the human element in the equation and it certainly has. I was already on the edge of not caring anymore. After two weeks of someone posting here that they will go to any lengths to get what they want and that we just have to understand and live with whatever their tactics are -- and then this fake site happens -- that was the final kill-pill for the fun for me. I've been around our Lost ARG blogs since the first one, and have never felt so deflated in spirit as I do with this one. I love what Zort has done for us he's been the greatest ARG host, and all of the esprit de corps of Lost fans around the world, and the well-intentioned posters on our Lost blogs here, but the new cut-throat element has killed it for me. I've been in the collectibles arena for 25 years, so I'm no softie to losing out on something I bid for, or to losing out on an item to those with more money, or to greedy dealers, I learned how to handle those disappointments a long time ago. So that's not my beef with this event at all. JMHO.

Anonymous--I personally haven't recruited any family members to try to get me a poster. If I'm not personally able to be online at the right time because of work or school, I forget about it. (Although I've been there for all the recent ones and have passed because they haven't interested me, leaving them for others.) I would not look down on anyone trying to get help from a friend because they had a conflict--but if it's a group attempt to score multiple copies, then that's less understandable.

However--I still disagree that adding more people to the crowd is comparable to intentionally misdirecting others in an attempt to thin out the crowd.

Its really quite simple. You are uninvited guests at someone elses party. Just saying the magic words..I am a LOST fan too..simply doesn't make it so..no matter how hard you insist. A bunch here have a 5 year history in the chats, podcasts, comiccons, off season LOST enterprises, and previous ARGs. It doesn't take much to figure out.

Now, if any one is going to stick up for ones American Rights.. to do what ever they want,,then if you are going act like a pig and talk like a pig..you can't get upset when folks call you a pig...and treat you like a pig. You are uninvited guests. Stop digging.

Zort - here is my suggestion: Let's go back several weeks and limit access to those who have "been around since the earlier posters" and those who have sacrificed their time to go to the reveals and make this private. I love your site, it's been awesome - but it has been an outlet and resource for those who do not have good intentions. If we limit access to those who have good intentions, it will benefit those who do. Just a thought - one that I know you debated several weeks ago - but think about who voted, everyone - and most people want it free and now. I think people like me and the other regulars would be willing to put in a few bucks to limit access.

The mood on Zorts blog is different from all I have experienced here before. I understand the frustration of the people who were fooled by the fake. I would have been very angry and deeply disappointed if I lost a print because I was waiting on the wrong website for the button to change. Some people said they assume they got a print because it distracted other potential buyers, I don't know… 10 thousand people tried to buy the 200 available copies, all around 12:35. I refreshed my browser without problems till about 12:20, after that it was impossible to even load the images.This ARG turned into a bizarre circus, even without the Fake-Incident. The people over at EB smile on our idea, the ARG was done for LOST fans. I have to admit I was not aware of the silkscreen poster scene in the states before, and that a poster drop is something like a cow falling into a piranha tank.But one thing I know, now is the time we have to stick together. This will be over in 4 weeks. I don't want to remember it as something that turned sour after we got almost through it. We need a group effort here, and it is not about fighting some folks at Expressobeans. No, we have to find a solution before the next reveal how to handle these situations. Lottery Ticket did an amzing job coordinating the Super7 intel on her twitter list. But we have to stop doing the homework for everybody solving Tysons well done puzzles. This thing just grew to big and chaotic for that. If everybody is happy, and the core group got the posters they wanted, fine.But if we want to stop to deliver the URLs to 10.000 people out there, we need a plan before next week. Thank you.

I have to say that even though it would count me out of here I probably agree with TA.

I've spent some time today reading through a couple of other posts elsewhere and there are a lot of people just wanting to jump on this to spite The Fans.

It's made me feel a bit miserable actually, after having some fun lurking here over the past couple of weeks and finally getting on board this week and feeling it with a lot of you, it's kinda sad to see it get a little too tense.

I have 3 posters. I may get a couple off ebay later if I can afford it and they come up. I'm probably not going to try for any more via dcaapb but I'll keep an eye on what's happening.

I do think that you guys should just focus on yourselves now. It makes me sad to see that the regulars aren't getting the posters any longer.

One thing from reading EB though. Poster drops like this happen all the time and collectors lose out all the time. Some of those guys have been collecting these artists for a long time and are also missing out now.

I look forward to seeing what you decide Zort... It's a tricky one for you I imagine.

Thor..you remind me of what Mankind will be saying 20 years from now about climate change..Suggestions were forwarded to Go Merch/ TPTB weeks ago, to no avail. Now we get to live with what it is...I'm renting Time on the University's Cray Super Computer during the next reveal...

We need to be careful about security. Our own personal security. It's way way way too easy to make spyware embedded in a webpage. While Rev's prank what just that, a prank, it could have been someone else who was after all that personal information we are about to give to DCaaPB.

Please, I urge everyone to take your own internet security into your own hands. Get some safety plug in for Firefox, Explorer or whatever browser you use. I personally recommend NoScript.

For yesterday's reveal, I didn't go into chat, and I didn't follow LOST ARGS comments. I turned off Outook. Why? Because all that slows down my computer and is very distracting. I got the right URL. And I still didn't get a poster. Not the first time I've missed, but the first time I've experienced that much difficulty. I am concerned, like Chris, about feeding all my personal information (CC#) and then getting nothing. I buy stuff all the time on the Web, so I'm not a neophyte. But this isn't fun.

Most of all, it takes time away from reading LOST boards, rewatching episodes, and participating in discussions. I'm going back to all that before I really get completely disgusted!

You know, we all know there are frequent people here, and on places like EB. We ignore the problem, just like TPTB ignore our pleas for more bandwith, changing servers, whatever.

While those outside of LOST can get the reveal day and time from the HUB, right before it happens, they don't have to get people to go to the events because they come here, or get info from our twitter accounts. We post our followers freely, and then those people sign up anyone and everyone.

Do you know what might buy us time. A close network of Lost Fans that work together. Do you know how many even MORE new people joined in on this poster drop when they heard it was either tyler stout, DD or Jay Ryan?? And how many asked... do we just watch the HUB page until the they reveal the site...... Well hell I'd have said yes.

But, they link people to here. OR give them the LOST people's twitter info to follow.

SO, who then plays smarter, us or them? I say them. So, they'll win every time, and we'll pay HUNDREDS of dollars for ONE print. And the artists, aren't happy. And I'd have to imagine TPTB aren't either.

SO although it's free for everyone to try and get... why do they have to do it here? I know now, next week, if I have a contact at the reveal, I will tell NOONE. I will no longer post it here.

Why? Because it increases MY chances, and I'm all about peace, love and happiness..... but I want a print even more than I care if you or anyone else gets a print. I will work with like minded people. Who want Lost Fans to get in, NOT the artists fans.

And I am truely pissed off and angered that these artists are leaking to their fans instead of creating more fans by letting the lost fans catch a break.

Remember, Daniel Danger came on here and pointed you towards his site, tinymediaempire.com, sign up for his mailing list and you'll be the first to know when he'll sell his copies of yesterday's print.

I guarantee, if you liked yesterday's print, you'll love many of Daniel's other works! (You can check them all out on EB)

no I wasn't implying there was malicious code in Milo's site. I know there wasn't and I trust Milo. My point was that a webpage is very easy to fake and with people waiting on a URL reveal, the likelihood that people will click on a bad link in increased.

It's just general security advice. The next time it may not be Milo with a harmless prank, next time it could be someone after our info. I hope there isn't a next time at all, but people can see how easy it is to get people to click a link....and thats all it takes

No offense, but the idea of only letting people on here that have been on here since the beginning is really elitist. This whole thing has obviously become a pretty big deal, and who is anyone to tell someone else they cant get into it? Its awesome first timers got the new poster! Who gives a damn, quit being such bad sports. You can't always make everyone happy. And even if go merch doesnt care about lost fans, how else do you want them to run this project? they're doing the best they can, you try and organize something of this magnitude and then see what its like when a ton of people try and tell you why you're an idiot. This is the way it is, if you dont like it dont support it.

Thought this was about lost. This whole thing about people buying things who don't belong applies to many things. Concert tickets for example. People will always buy things to make money. This is a community and the community should ignore those trying to stir things not rise to it. Go back to it being about lost. Please.

Hey! :D Now that we've moved on, I was thinkin about an idea I read in an earlier post about LOST fan art and i think that'd be a really good idea! We all know how sad we'll be when this poster arg is over (not to mention how bummed we'll be when season 6 is over :\ ...) but wouldnt it be really cool if we started our own LOST fan art thing? Like, make a site that revolves only around LOST themed artwork that will be available for any Lost fan or artist to submit and sell or trade to other Lost fans? I'd be interested in seeing other artists' renditions of different scenes from our favorite show.. Plus it could be a nice tribute to Damon & Carlton for giving us such an amazing show. What do u guys think?

" Fake URL was shameful. Sounds like a lot of fans had proxies buying for them and even some were distractedby it. The notion that a "true fan" wouldn't have fallen for it is bogus. Don't try to speak for us all when saying it's alright because it was Milo. I'm disappointed and know I speak for more than a few people.Moving on, will forgive and forget but I wanted to clear the air first."

Those who are so easy to to laugh it off should speak for themselves. This affected people who were every bit as worthy of a poster than anyone. Even more tha than Milo who has every print. This definitely leaves a bitter taste. It was a attack, done in anger by someone who felt he is more entitled to the prints than YOU are - NOT a simple prank.

Guess you could try to go superspy, and keep the info secret. But it's hard-we can't even do it in the small group of LP folk on the poster hunt that I have been with from the beginning.

I also am loving that world of poster art. Don't care about "collecting", but might try to buy some because I would enjoy it so.

Have accepted that my connection is most likely too slow to get anymore posters- kind of a clue when your refresh page times out. Has been great fun though- had folks who went to Johnny Cupcakes and Crumbs LA and sent back pics. Have two great posters on wall at work to see every day. Learned how to do all sorts of stuff with posting. Jumped into great Lost internet world. Huzzah!

Matt..there is the problem of " copyright"..I have posted a few times at abc.com ..some of my Lost Stuff,,and its always quickly deleted..quicker than the feces throwing chimp in the thread above or below me. So..its a problem. Even the word "Lost" in that font or typeset is protected. Intellectual Property is wide acreage. Any site better have a great lawyer,,because trespassing is what " their" lawyers are paid to look for. As said here already,,you don't mess with the mouse.

Yes, there are ways around the trademark and copyright,,but out of the many contributors,,how many will use a very narrow path?

Sorry if this has been posted here before, but I've only purchased two posters so far. What is the login page where you can see the order status? I go to Gomerch.com and it won't take my login... Thanks!!

Yeah, Copyright issues might be a prob, huh.. But I always thought that as long as you painted it yourself and gave credit to the original creator it was fine..? Like say, this is a painting from a scene from "lost." Ok, for instance, at the comic place in Sherman Oaks that Damon went to, a lot of people actually brought in some of their art to get damon to sign it. I didnt get to see much cuz i wasnt gonna peer over shoulders but i saw some people had lost character drawings, and one guy had a huge painting he did of the one that was in the hatch on the wall. Damon seemed impressed. Plus wouldnt it be ok as long as it was like an obvious fan appreciation page?Oh & btw Mel, what kinda stuff did u post that u said was deleted? Can I see some of it? Im interested in all lost stuff :\

Hi all! Zort - I just emailed you a picture of the number and signature from my copy of The Swan. I just got it in the mail, and took a quick picture of it for you while I still had some daylight here.

Now, back to getting caught up with all the comments since last night... :-)

Going underground is ludicrous. Most people here KNOW the links were released early. I'd be willing to bet a vast majority of you know them. I certainly do.

And even if you take this website and chat to DEFCON-1 the HUB will still exist and if you check regularly you'll figure out a date and time of reveal.

Then you sit back and just continue checking the known URLs. In other words, those who are advertising going underground, you will stop NOTHING except LOSTIES who have played the game fair and square and didn't look at the released URLs. I can promise you that the flippers know them.

If a large group of us were willing and trusting enough to share "trustworthy shipping addresses" and sold prints on eb for $50 to only those addresses under an agreement that as soon as you get the print you sell it back to the person who sold it to you, eb would be filled with the illusion of hundreds of people selling the print for $50, shutting out the $300 sellers for good.

For example, Milo and Zort share addresses with each other. Milo has Walt's Kidnapping and wants to stop it from being overpriced online. Milo and Zort sell it over eb to each other back and forth for a $50 "price" and anyone who stops on eb and sees it will never buy the $300 one simply because it appears that one is available for much less, even if its not truly "for sale".

Anon said "It was a attack, done in anger by someone who felt he is more entitled to the prints than YOU are…"

Thorsten said "if you state accusations like this, you should not do this behind the shield of Anonymous…"

Thorsten and I have not always agreed, but I agree with him here 100%. If you have such an opinion/criticism, why state it anonymously??

I'm just catching up here today. I needed some time away from all of this. RevMilo, even though he made a big time error in judgment, is a stand up guy. I'm still processing a lot of this , but I give him credit for coming clean, and I think he deserves better than to hear from 'anonymous' people he cant reply to by name.

I noticed that someone (anon of course)earlier posted that I "troll" here. I am a contributing member to this thread and have been from from frame three . I've supplied photos of my FRAMED LOST prints, (attempted to) play mediator endlessly, chimed in with the detective hunts,offered facts about artists that others here do not know, and have tried as much as humanly possible to be friendly and respectful to everyone here. If you doubt any of that ask Zort. Again it is endlessly ironic this came from "anonymous."

There are copyright rules if you are taking the image from ABC and selling it for profit. If you just made something as a fan and kept it for yourself and did not make a dime off of it...it would be okay. When I made my LOST quilt, I made sure to put that disclaimer on my blog...It was something I made for myself and I would never sell it.

Hi all.Caught up on all the comments - crosseyed n painless...Didnt get a poster yesterday, due to my sleep deprived brain letting me down halfway thru checkout! Ah well, next time.Zort - Id give my left one for a hamster powered connection. I have a geriatric A.D.D mouse with a painkiller addiction, running in a wheel with squeaky bearings, connection!

On the upside tho - a massive thanks to whoever first posted the teefury site link - what a great t, and prices are amazing, even the intl postage is very reasonable. They have a new customer! Funny story - after getting some sleep after the reveal, I remembered the teefury site, headed there, and what do I see - this t is available for the next 3 mins, never to return, complete with live counting down counter. The adrenaline kicked in and I was in 'reveal mode' for the 2nd time that day! Couldnt believe it. Got 2 t's before the glyphs came up.

Now, in a vain attempt to sheppard (argh, no, thats not a clue!...) the conversation off track... has anyone picked up on the fact that at least 2 of the weeks 'dropping' artists, have been on overseas hols/trips at the time of their poster going up? DD in Ireland, RJ was in Italy, I read, when his came out. Maybe some observer/mouse legal suit shows up at their house, with a "holiday they cant refuse" offer late on a Monday night! Oh I love a good conspirasy theory!Argh, hold on, my mouse is trying to escape - lucky he cant remember where the door is.

One last thing - thorsten - can I contact you offsite somehow? I have a non-threatining, friendly way-off-topic question for you!

So..speakin about Jacob's Cabin..we have a print here of what was it,,a two season " character place". Possibly first introduced as Horace's place of finding himself that he was building,,and by end of season 5 going up in smoke...without ever seeing Jacob in it. After all.. he had a foot to live in.

So. the print is excellent in conveying the murkiness,,the shrouded,the Mystery of this " character"..Jacob's Cabin. It seems the place where ghosts hang out.

I'm assuming that is Locke going toward the cabin w/the flashlight? This print is exactly what I expected from Daniel Danger after looking at his other prints. Very dark, SpOOOky, & cool. I like the quote @ the bottom. I wish I could see this one in person. Looks like a lot of detail went into it. I get the feeling from the print that Daniel is a LOST fan. Even before reading his comments that he is a fan.

Many have mentioned this already, but going underground at this point seems pointless. As someone pointed out, many have the urls. Damoncarlton... is posting the date and time of the reveals and will continue to. With that info, everyone has everything they need. I don't have the urls. I didn't look at them when I had the chance. I'm shut out without this site and the twitter contacts.

At the same time, I already have two prints. Because of how this whole thing has gone, that feels like plenty. I'm lucky to have the two best ones in my opinion. Frankly, it's upsetting that multiple print owners are getting mad that they don't get to buy anymore because it has become too tough. I'm sure a good number of fans don't have ANY yet. I know some of you want to complete an epic set that will be the envy of all and will go down in history as the greatest accomplishment ever known to man, but is the happiness that will give you equal to the compounded happiness that 10 other people might gain by each having one?

...a yes, I also think universal healthcare is a good idea ;)

Here's to hoping more LOST fans manage to get the remaining prints. For those of you that have one or more already: it will be tough, but please try to be happy with the multiple framed pieces of awesomeness that are hanging on your wall.

This has been a hell of a fun ride for the past few months. I hate to see it all go bad now. I'm sorry if my comments end up taking things any further in that direction. Just felt like "be thankful for what you have" is appropriate during the month of November.

And, knowing what we know now about who was in the cabin, it's even creepier! I love it! Wish I could have gotten it:( Still trying to console myself w/the fact that I got a really cool t-shirt coming soon. Thanks again to Pacmc, I think it was, that originally posted the link to TeeFury. I am a new customer of theirs as well:)

just so you guys know, there are only 14 people showing this in their eb collections, that is down from 26 swan.

just thought i would point that out.

i know you dont want to believe it but a quick hundred or two hundred looks nice to a lot of people these days. even if you are a fan. well not a super comic con or quilt making fan but a fan nonetheless.

It looks like ugly business in this thread today. I'm sorry, but I have to laugh at the idea of so many arguing and roaring about how long they've been a fan, I'm a bigger fan than you, respected contributor, etc. Seriously? Come on. It seems that emotions always run high immediately following a poster sale. I have enough drama in real life so let's get back to the spirit of LOST and this ARG.

I love the black background in this print and the muted shades of green. Dilapidated sheds and creepy cabins in the woods are central to my horror film rearing and I think this captures that perfectly.

Ging..Yes,,any artist using quotes from Lewis Carroll, knows surrealism in my book. DD's blend of line , form and color comes together to convey a united print. The quote takes the print further into the Surreal tho. There is a state of mind about the whole print that seems haunting and daunting. A character trying to shed lite on the cabin,,seems quite appropo.

FACT #1 There are literally thousands of lost fans trying to get LESS than 200 hundred printsFACT #2 There are no 'others' 'enemies' 'bad people' stealing your art...I have 3 prints,but I dont contribute to any forum,I just do my homework and go for them,does that make me an enemy?FACT #3 Zort runs a great site here,please dont let it go the way the crazies on spoiler tv did and end up a bitter click with nothing but a lot of posts and no posters.